Shiki
Shiki (シキ) is the main antagonist of Togainu no Chi. He is a violent and brutal man, shrouded in mystery. He is extremely feared among Igura participants for the way he often appears and slays them immediately and with no warning. Though he kills Igura participants frequently, he neither carries nor collects tags, and thus does not appear to be an Igura participant himself. He is the true identity of Vischio's king, Il Re. Personality Shiki is a sadistic and arrogant man who relishes in killing Igura participants. He considers them nothing more than "trash" and is disdainful of those who rely on other people or on the drug, Line, for strength. Shiki is single-minded in pursuit of his goal to kill his greatest enemy, Nicole Premier, and will sacrifice almost everything to defeat him. In several of his game endings, Shiki continues to fight against the memory of him even after Premier's death. Appearance Shiki has black hair, crimson eyes, and pale skin. Standing at 188cm and clothed in solid black, he is an intimidating figure to behold. He is almost always seen with his katana close at hand. Apart from his gloves, Shiki's accessories are all silver and include bracelets, a studded belt, and two cross necklaces. There are metal details on his coat and pants, as well. He never removes more than the outer layers during the game, even during explicit scenes. Near the end of the anime, when he gains power from Nicole Premier's blood, he glows purple whenever he makes his attacks of blinding speed. Abilities Shiki is a skilled swordsman and incredibly strong and fast. He is shown to be one of the strongest (if not the strongest) people in Toshima, and is able to hold his own against not only Line users but both Kiriwar and Gunji in a fight. After he drinks the undiluted Line of Nano's blood, his abilities are increased enough to easily take out the Executioners. Relationships Rin His younger half-brother. Shiki betrayed his trust when he killed Rin's team, Pesca Corsica. Shiki kills Rin on his route, but seems melancholy after, suggesting that Shiki does carry some amount of affection for Rin. Arbitro His business partner of sorts, though Shiki sees him more as a subordinate. Shiki is disgusted by Arbitro's greed and sadistic hobbies. Nano Shiki hates him for both instilling fear in his heart and for sparing his life during their first encounter. His ultimate goal is to surpass and kill him. Akira Shiki likes the way Akira fights back regardless of his chances of success. On his route, when Akira falls into despair, Shiki announces himself to be Akira's master and takes possession of him. In the Game History Shiki was once a well known figure in the criminal underworld, and even offered his services for hire to the military. His life was forever altered when he returned from one reconnaissance mission to find his tightly-guarded base in flames. Among the rubble, he saw a team of ENED's living weapons standing around, including Nicole Premier; when he realized Nano was watching him, Shiki felt fear for the first time. On instinct, Shiki fought his way through the other five enhanced soldiers and attempted to kill Nano, but failed. Nano spared his life, and Shiki dedicated himself to gaining the strength to defeat Nano. Before the events of the game, Shiki and Arbitro set up the drug ring Vischio and the murder game of Igura to distribute Line. Shiki's only desire in doing this was to battle against Line-compatibles; he had no interest in Vischio's profits. Common Route Shiki first appears when Akira goes out for a walk after their first visit to the Hotel. The two fight, crossing blades. The player can choose to hold his gaze during this, or look away. Holding his gaze is one of the main determinants of his route. Either way, Shiki will call Akira a "small fry" and quickly depart. His Route In the game, Shiki appears as a mysterious figure who slays many without taking tags. He regards Akira as a "small fry" at first, but becomes interested in Akira's attitude towards him. He is intrigued by the way Akira glares at him even in the face of death. Shiki arrives shortly after Keisuke's death, and begins fighting with Akira, and threatens to rape him in front of Keisuke's corpse. He then forces Akira to come to his apartment, where he plays with Akira physically and mentally for several days. At one point Shiki kills Rin, having returned smelling like blood and throwing Rin's stilettos onto the floor; Akira questions him of this (unknowing the swords belonged to Rin), but was once again raped by Shiki,. who only tells him he killed "a little cat who kept nipping at my heels" (this could be a reference to Rin's Bl@ster alias, Koat, which meant "tomcat"). After Nano drags Akira out the room, they meet with Emma and Gwen and are joined by Arbitro, Gunji and Kiriwar. Arbitro tries to take Akira in exchange for Nano, but Shiki comes to Akira's aid. After cutting down Emma and Gwen, Shiki begins to fight with Nano. In spite of Shiki's immense strength, he is unsuccessful in landing a single blow. They debate about power and fate, and Nano gives Shiki an ultimatum: overcome his "weakness" through the trial of taking Nano's blood (which is undiluted Line). Good Ending In the good ending, Shiki does not take Nano's blood, but kills Nano with his katana. He stops Arbitro from taking the dead man's blood (Gunji and Kiriwar don't come to his aid) and takes Nano's body away. Akira and Shiki escape Toshima as the civil war begins. Even though Akira is cleared of his charges, they must hide because Shiki is still considered a criminal. Many rivals of Shiki try to hunt them down but fail every time. Shiki, now stripped of his goal in life, lapses into an unresponsive state. The scene ends as Akira takes a wheel-chair bound Shiki out for a walk in the beautiful autumn nature and is confronted by Shiki's enemies. Calm as Shiki would have been and dressed in leathery black like Shiki used to wear, Akira takes out Shiki's katana and kills them. Bad Ending 1 Shiki drinks Nano's blood and loses his mind. He becomes a cold and tyrannical drug lord over what remains of Japan after the civil war, and Akira is reduced to seducing other men in Shiki's palace to make Shiki jealous. Bad Ending 2 Shiki drinks Nano's blood but Akira smears his blood on Shiki too. Shiki does not go "Line-Mad" but is not the same anymore. He uses his blood to rise to power as a military tyrant. Akira vows to stay with him forever and becomes his personal secretary and the second-highest position in military. Rin's Route Shiki faces off with Rin after the latter gets word of Shiki's presence in the area from Tomoyuki. He is clearly winning when Akira intevenes, and Shiki leaves them with a smirk. He appears later in the route when Akira challenges Il Re in Rin's place. Rin is dragged out to watch, but before Rin and Akira can fight over the chance to fight Shiki, they are interrupted by explosions detonated by Motomi. Shiki is not seen again until Rin returns to fight him for the last time. Shiki is wounded, but considers this a handicap for Rin and gives him a katana of his own to use before they fight. Rin wins this battle and kills Shiki. He takes Shiki's katana as proof, and gives it to Akira five years later as a way of letting go. Nano's Route Shiki is implied to be killed by Nano, who returns to Akira carrying Shiki's katana soaked in blood. In the Anime Shiki appears in the first episode of the Togainu no Chi anime. He is seen at the very end of the episode slaying a group of Igura participants who were going to kill Akira. Shiki points his katana at Akira but does not kill him, amused by the fact the Akira doesn't beg for his life. He holds his katana to Akira's throat, comments on his arrogant eyes, then walks away. He is later encountered in the fourth episode. While Akira and his group were resting in a neutral zone, Shiki appeared just down the street and killed several people, causing an uproar by being so close to the nuetral zone. This causes Rin to immediately give chase, with Akira following close behind, concerned for his friend. When Akira loses sight of Rin, he encounters Skiki in a dark alleyway and a battle ensues. Shiki, clearly being the stronger of the two, easily overwhelms Akira and sends him flying through a glass window of an abandoned building, where he grabbes the nearly unconscious Akira and begins suffocating him against a wall. In what could possibly be a slight interest in his victim, Skiki states in a fairly mocking voice that he will let Akira go if he begs for his life, echoing their previous meeting. Instead, Akira finds his chance to free himself by kicking Shiki in the stomach, although Akira collapses to the floor right after. Shiki then decides to leave the battered Akira alone for the time being. The next appearance is in episode 5, as Shiki places a suitcase filled with Line in front of Arbitro and discusses business matters. Shiki comments on his disgust for Arbitro's "pet", Kau, and his hobby for torturing young men, then leaves. In episode 7, Shiki again meets up with Akira and what seems like another battle - though it was actually a threat of a battle - ensues over another suitcase (which the viewer can suspect is filled with Line). Akira was standing guard over the case Nicole Premier asked him to give to Shiki. Upon an exchange of a few words and a short clash or swords, Shiki takes the suitcase and walks off into the night letting Akira live yet again. Shiki is seen in the next episode, when Rin, alone on a motorway, yells his name. They clash for a short period of time, and it is then shown that Rin and he are related, but having different mothers. Rin lands near a broken edge of the motorway and falls down, while Shiki disappears. In episode 10, he is revealed as the Il Re when Rin presents a 'full house' of tags to Arbitro, who then accepts the challenge on Shiki's behalf. Shiki mocks Rin as they fight, causing the other to fall into desperation as he tries to kill him. However, just as he is about to kill Rin, Akira appears, saving Rin from his death. Bombs are dropped on the 'Palace', and Shiki is seen in what seems like a state of shock. Akira and Rin then escape, leaving him and four others behind to fend for themselves. It is unclear how they - Shiki, Arbitro, Kau, Gunji and Kiriwar - escaped. In the next episode, he is seen battling against Nicole Premier (aka Nano), and is almost humiliated in his inability to hit him. Arbitro, Kau, Gunji and Kiriwar watch this battle. However, Nano seems to mock Shiki, then he lures Shiki into drinking his blood, which is 100% pure Line. Shiki cuts Nano open with his own mouth, and he takes some of his blood, causing himself to undergo what seems to be massive pain or an epileptic fit, as the Line affects his body. Nano leaves apathetically, leaving the four watchers to comment on Shiki's apparent 'death'. However, the Line hadn't killed him like Nano and the observers said it would, as he gets up a few moments later. Shiki is later seen confronting Akira and Keisuke as they try to get to the church at the start of the "civil war". Shiki quotes Nano's words: "Those who cannot win keep challenging me, despite the fact that they will be defeated. You've tasted nothing so far, but I can sense your fear." This alludes to the fact that Shiki may think he is at the same level as Nano. He asks Akira to go with him. Akira's refusal is clear as he tries to run away, so Shiki kicks him to the floor. He tells Akira to not defy him, at which Keisuke tries to attack Shiki. Shiki slashes him across his torso and Keisuke's blood flies everywhere. Nano appears on a roof and throws two shards of glass at Shiki to stop him making an advances on Akira who is now at Keisuke's side. Shiki tells Nano that he has surpassed him, but Nano points out the mistake of taking Nano's blood to overcome the fear inside him. Shiki leaps to the roof and corrects Nano, saying he has surpassed himself and Nano. Shiki again tries to attack Nano, but is still unable to harm Nano in any way. However, a while later, on the same roof, Shiki manages to land a hit after using incredible speed to get behind Nano and send him flying off the roof. He follows and lands an earth-shattering blow that Nano evades. Blood pours from Nano's left arm, so Shiki did manage to cut him. He tells Nano that he wont be able to escape him, and goes to attack him again. Nano catches Shiki's blade with his hand and the shockwave resulting affects the roads around them. Nano tries to use his hand to pierce Shiki, however, Shiki stops his hand before he can, reminding Nano of the futility of trying to beat him. Blood is spilled; it is unclear where it came from or who's it is. Shiki reappears beside Akira, letting the viewer assume that he has defeated Nano, and reprimands Akira for grieving. Akira attacks Shiki for killing Keisuke, and they clash for a little while. Shiki knocks Akira's knife out of his hand. Before he delivers another blow, Rin interferes. Akira pushes him out the way and still tries to attack Shiki after he mocked Akira. Rin again intervenes, but Shiki grabs his throat. He throws Rin to the ground and stabs his leg. Akira runs to attack Shiki. Shiki raises his katana to strike Akira, but is again stopped by, surprisingly, Nano, who is glowing blue. He slashes Shiki across his torso diagonally. Yet Shiki pushes both Nano and Akira to the ground. He encourages them, and reiterates Nano's words from the previous fight, "Accept this blood and show me how you'll overcome this trial!" This confirms the definite switch between Shiki and Nano's situations. After those words, an explosion occurs nearby with a blinding light. In the confusion, Nano takes the others to safety. Shiki reappears, seemingly far away from the scene, clinging to his wound. A gunshot is fired and he realises he is surrounded by the soldiers that attacked Toshima. Calling them trash, he leaps to attack. We again see Shiki leaving the scene, where he had killed all the soldiers and left them in a blood bath. The last we see of Shiki is when Akira confronts him at the very end of the final episode. He's surrounded by the new Line produced by his own blood. He clashes with Akira for the last time, allowing the viewer to make their own decision about what happens next. In the Manga Shiki is the first major character to appear in the manga, as he is seen in silhouette on the second page before he slaughters some Igura participants. Shiki spends much of the story chasing after Nicole Premier, dealing with Arbitro, and investigating the 50% Line that's been entering the marketplace. Shiki clashes with Gunji in chapter 3 and chapter 28. At the end of chapter 5, Shiki catches Akira stealing a tag from a dead man and tells him to run. Before he can kill Akira in the next chapter, Nano distracts Shiki and draws his attention to a billboard sign, which originally read "LOVER" but was turned into "LOSER" by a corpse Gunji lost. Shiki is haunted by this image and by his memories of his first meeting with Nano, but it's not until chapter 31 that Shiki realizes Nano was protecting Akira. This piques Shiki's interest, and he admits he too felt something from Akira's eyes. In Chapter 36, Shiki appears after Akira has fallen into despair from (possibly) losing Keisuke to the effects of Akira's blood and from being betrayed by Rin. As in the game, Shiki orders him to get up, and when Akira refuses to care about dying, Shiki decides he will be Akira's owner. In Chapter 37, he imprisons Akira in his apartment and it is heavily implied he rapes Akira in both this chapter and the next. Category:Content Category:Characters